Ilgiz Tantashev

Ilgiz Tantashev (; born 5 April 1984 ) is an Uzbek football referee who has been on the FIFA International Referees List since 2013.

Career Tantashev, a native of Bukhara, He ascended as a central referee to the Uzbekistan Super League and later officiated in the Indian Super League and the Saudi Pro League. In the latest AFC Asian Cup edition in Qatar, Tantashev was the fourth official in the final between Jordan and Qatar, with Chinese referee Ma Ning leading the officiating team. Other competitions within AFC include three youth tournaments of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup: the editions of 2016, 2020, and the 2022.

Outside the AFC, Tantashev was selected as a support official for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland, and the men's tournament of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Aside from official tournaments, Tantashev has overseen friendly matches. He was named as the Best Referee of Uzbekistan in 2021.

German referee Patrick Ittrich declared Tantashev's refereeing of the Paraguay vs France last-16 match as "the worst performance at this World Cup". He faced criticism for his management of multiple incidents during the game. The match also saw a foul count of 13 committed by Paraguay and 11 by France, with France receiving three yellow cards and Paraguay receiving none. The officiating was widely criticised by fans and former footballers. French newspaper L'Équipe gave Tantashev a 1/10 score, calling his performance "absolute incompetence," pointing to the violent game by Paraguayan players and that Tantashev did not show Paraguay any yellow card. Russian former footballer and commentator Eduard Mor also criticized Tantashev's performance, saying that he lost control of the match while not sanctioning the violent game of the Paraguayan players. Tantashev was not given any further World Cup matches to referee.

Selected performances